The Red Sox are the most important institution in New England. The fact
that the team is about to be sold is the most important news we can bring
you on these pages.
Most New Englanders have more than a casual interest in the Olde Towne
Team. The Sox never go out of season, never go out of style, and appeal to
a broader constituency than any other team, museum, hospital, symphony, or
institution of higher learning.
This veteran typist is concerned about the direction in which the
pending sale might be heading. Local stadium-builder and man-about-town
Larry Moulter went on Channel 4's ''Sports Final'' the other night and
flatly stated, ''The fix is in.''
Moulter's theory - and he's not the first to float this - is that CEO
John Harrington is more concerned with his place in the old boy network of
big league baseball than he is about the future of the Boston ball club.
It appears Harrington wants a role in baseball after the sale. Clearly,
he has rather enjoyed his status as a friend of commissioner Bud Selig and
a major player among the lords of the game. His place in this pantheon was
completely inadvertent, but Harrington in recent years has spent more time
worrying about Major League Baseball than his own house, which has been
burning down.
Now we hear (from Moulter and numerous unnamed sources in other
reports) that Papa John wants to secure his standing with the baseball
major-domos by steering the sale of the Sox toward failed San Diego Padres
owner Tom Werner and downhill specialist Les Otten. Werner played ball
with Selig when he owned the Padres. He strip-mined his team and proved to
all that small markets can't make it in the majors. His is believed to be
a sure vote for revenue sharing when Bud wants that card played. He would
lock out his team if Bud calls for a lockout. He would also solve the
Florida-Montreal problem by taking on John Henry if Henry unloads his
Marlins stock and turns it over to Jeffrey Loria, who would be teamless
when contraction eliminates the Expos.
If this hypothetical scenario were to unfold, it should offend all
citizens of Red Sox Nation. The Sox are a baseball flagship, as important
as the Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, and Braves in the small group of baseball's
signature franchises. That the Sox sale could be used as a pawn in the
Florida-Montreal-Selig chess game would be outrageous. The Red Sox are the
Red Sox. They are not just one of 30 teams. Sox fans don't care about
contraction or the fortunes of the Marlins and Expos. They care about a
winning ball club in Boston.
Reached at his home last night in Milwaukee, Selig shot down the
conspiracy theory.
''The Red Sox are not a pawn for anybody or anything,'' said the
commissioner. ''That's just ludicrous. I'm amazed that rumors like that
circulate. That's nonsense. The Red Sox are a critical franchise and the
only thing that should matter is who best fits the ownership role that
John and his people have put out there.''
According to several reports, New York cablemaster Charles Dolan bid
more than $400 million for the team last week. He is the high bidder. But
Harrington has pledged only that he'll sell to the ''highest qualified''
bidder.
Selig is uncomfortable with those who want teams only to fortify
television empires.
''Baseball people have long been concerned about that,'' said Selig.
''But I don't want to comment on anyone specifically. It wouldn't be fair
to any group.''
Fine. But this is why Dolan - despite submitting the highest bid -
might have trouble getting approved by Major League Baseball.
Meanwhile, the Werner spinmeisters, light on money (they are like a guy
who says he'll buy your house for $400,000 as soon as he sells his house),
can probably get the votes from the Selig cartel but hopefully would be
stopped by the Red Sox' limited partners, who also get to vote on the
highest qualified bidder.
Selig likes Werner. But it's hard to believe Otten can pass the
audition with the limited partners. It seems that every resident of New
Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine despises Otten for what he did with American
Skiing Company. Otten is also a pal of Dan Duquette, which earns him no
endorsement from Red Sox Nation.
But at least the guy is humble. In a recent interview with the
Associated Press, Otten said, ''I'm ready to do something great. Always
have been. Always will be ... You're hard-pressed to find someone that
walks down the street in northern New England who has done as much as
successfully as I have.''
Les, say hello to Stephen King. Come to think of it, the Maine horror
man would be a perfect Sox owner. Too bad the bidding period has expired.
Impatient Sox fans (and nosy columnists) want the sale to move faster,
but Selig sees nothing slow about the process and promises to get involved
before Harrington announces the winner of the Boston Baseball Bakeoff.
''I've had my hands full with other issues,'' said Selig. ''But I don't
think it's taking long. They just got the bids in and they're going over
them. I haven't gone over all the bids with John, but I will.
''I think they're in a very good process. We have a complicated
ownership process and at the moment, I don't have any indication that
there's anything untoward about the process.''
Wish we could believe you, Bud-man. But this is Boston, forever home of
politics and sports. The Red Sox are just too important and the protracted
process is making us very nervous.
By Dan Shaughnessy, a Boston Globe columnist.
This story ran on page C1 of the Boston Globe on
12/5/2001.